Prefera Foods: "We have the ability to pay on time the obligations related to the securities listed on the BVB"

The management of Prefera Foods claims that the company has the ability to pay on time the amounts related to the bonds listed on the Multilateral Trading System of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), according to a company report published yesterday on the website of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) .

"Prefera Foods wishes to inform investors that, currently, the company does not have any information likely to significantly affect the market price of the bonds that have not been made public. At the same time, the company believes that it has the ability to generate the cash flows necessary for the timely payment of the obligations assumed through the issue of bonds traded by the multilateral trading system administered by the Bucharest Stock Exchange", the report signed by the president Raul Ciurtin states.

The company has listed a bond issue with a total value of five million euros, launched in 2021 and maturing in 2026, the securities having a fixed annual interest of 7.5%. Beginning in mid-February, there was a massive sell-off in Prefera bonds that at one point saw the bonds trade at just 55% of face value.

The main object of activity of Prefera Foods is the processing and preservation of vegetables and fruits, according to the information available on the company's website.

For the first six months of last year, Prefera Foods reported operating income of around ten million lei, down 83% compared to the middle of the previous year, and an operating loss of 2.7 million lei, compared to a profit of almost thirty million lei, between January and June 2022. From the financial activity, the company reported a net profit of 10.7 million lei, as a result of the sale of shares in Prefera Trading to the Morad group. Thus, the net profit amounted to eight million lei, 71% below that of mid-2022.

According to the company's report, the massive reduction in turnover was due to the transfer of activity to Verdino and the disposal of capital holdings in Prefera Trading, to which is added the decrease in production. "The decrease in operating income is mainly determined by the fact that in the first semester of 2022 the main component was the value of 34.5 million lei resulting from the transfers to Verdino and Prefera Trading, so the real decrease is from 25.2 million lei to 10.1 million lei, i.e. 40%", according to Prefera's last half-yearly report.

Total assets amounted to 45.8 million lei, 16.6% below those at the beginning of 2023, while total liabilities were 29.5 million lei, down 36.7%, mainly due to a line of credit that was repaid in full. In July 2023, Prefera Foods started the process of merger by absorption between Prefera and Crisrock SRL (affiliated party). "Following the merger process, the company took over the net assets of the absorbed subsidiary, and the impact of the merger will be presented in the company's reports from the end of the current year", it was also mentioned in the report that was published last September.

Prefera Foods is controlled by Raul Ciurtin, who owned Albalact.